Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Miami baseball coach Jim Morris struggles to remember the name of the prospect he was scouting during a Georgia high school baseball game in the early 1980s, but he does remember the pitcher this outfielder was facing.

Morris described him as this "scrawny kid" and swears he couldn't throw a fastball more than 79 mph. After the game, Morris was trying to sell the outfielder on attending Georgia Tech, where he was coaching, but the pitcher kept interrupting, trying to talk his way into a scholarship. Morris eventually heard him out and told him he was welcome to walk on to the team, which he did.

Turns out that the "scrawny guy" was Kevin Brown, who anchored the Yellow Jackets' pitching staff for three years, becoming an All-American before putting together a fine major league career.

"Over the years I've learned that you have to return every call you get, write every kid that writes you," Morris said. "And if somebody says a guy can play, no matter who it is, you've got to look into it because if you don't, you could miss out on a good one."